Forest Logging. Abolition of Environmental Impact Assessment

Primary author: Матусевич Олександр

Ukraine, unlike European countries, does not have an alternative control system for sanitary logging other than environmental impact assessment (EIA). This mechanism is currently the only functioning safeguard, and it is being challenged and potentially weakened.

Corruption schemes with extremely high short-term profitability are rare, yet the absence of environmental impact assessment would allow, on paper, healthy forests to be reclassified as diseased. Under such a scheme, the state would receive revenue as if for firewood, while the timber could be sold at a price many times higher.

The simplest way to construct such a large-scale corruption scheme involving the depletion of state forests is through clear-cut sanitary logging. The financial incentives are significant, and the traces of such activities are easy to conceal: after logging, only stumps remain, making it difficult to determine whether trees were truly diseased.

As a result, forestry enterprises are likely to always include actors willing to profit from such practices. Therefore, an effective mechanism is essential to prevent the felling of healthy trees under the guise of sanitary logging.

For a detailed analysis, see the relevant analytical materials. The draft law was opposed by civil society organizations including Environment People Law, Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, Holka, and others.